[No federally sponsored research or development dollars where used in the development of this patent.]
Naval Architecture, ship operations, and mobile logistics bases is the area of application for this invention. There is a need in the military and private sector for a ship that can serve as both a transit vessel and a fixed platform. In the military a ship that can transform itself from a horizontal displacement hull vessel into a floating platform can be used as a forward mobile base. This base may server as a logistic port and/or as an air base. The ideal situation is to have a fast transport ship, to carry cargo and personnel that can at high-speed sail to an areas of conflict. The shortfall with conventional ships such as carriers is that they require specialized catapult launched aircraft, are very expensive, and do not have general logistic support capabilities. Another approach is to have a floating platform such as a semi-submersible, similar to what is used in the oil production industry, to provide the forward fixed base. The disadvantage with semi-submersibles is that they are very slow or need to be towed to the forward site, which may take weeks or months. There is a technology need to provide a rapid transit ship, which can also act as a floating platform. The problem with conventional horizontal displacements ships is that in a stationary moored situation they respond very severely to sea conditions and the resultant motions prevents, or severely limits, aircraft and logistics operations. A floating platform supported by long vertical slender buoyant legs, provides the most stable platform configuration and respond very little to waves and sea conditions. However, a platform supported by long vertical slender buoyant legs is very difficult to transport. This invention solves all of the above listed problems and shortcoming by providing a conventional horizontal hull displacement ship which may transit at high speed to a desired location, then be transformed into a long vertical slender buoyant leg platform that provides high quality stability.
The following is a Description of Related Applications: The most closely related technologies are the Mobile Offshore Base, which uses semi-submersible floating platforms connected together to make up a large platform configuration, oil drilling and production platforms, and the aircraft carrier. The Mobile Offshore Base is composed of several semi-submersibles connected together and they do not provide for wave motion isolation. The oil drilling and production platforms are a semi-submersible rigid structure which has submerges horizontal cylindrical bodies similar in shape to a submarine, which have struts leading up through the water surface to support a platform, see references U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,273,067; 4,361,104. This arrangement called a semi-submersible platform is used extensively in the offshore oil industry for drilling and production rigs. The semi-submersible is a ridge structure which can not change it""s shape. Often the semi-submersibles are fixed to the bottom while on site with anchor wires to a submerged gravity base and can not position them selves relative to the waves or wind, see reference U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,178. The semi-submersibles are often without propulsion and are towed to their locations. The aircraft carrier is a conventional mono-hull ship with a flight deck for aircraft operations. The aircraft carrier is self-propelled and of a single hull configuration, which cannot be coupled together to make a lager airfield platform. The carriers are not designed to sit motionless at one location and launch aircraft; the ship needs forward motion, catapults, and arresting gear to conduct air operations. Some carriers do not have catapults but have a jump ski bow ramp to launch V/STOL aircraft, they can not handle conventional air craft operations, see reference U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,921. There are carrier designs that are formed from sections of floating barges, or pontoons and/or semi-submersibles that are connected together to form a flight operations platform. This type of floating platform structures set on the surface of the water and is subject to high resultant motions. High wave forces require them to have fellable connectors, see references U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,906,171; 5,529,012. Also there are ridged platform structures comprising a deck and floating support sections as a single truss structures, but their size are limited due to wave and sea loading, they also are not inherently low motion vessels because they are not isolated from the sea, see reference U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,481,899; 5,398,635. Some semi-submersible platforms use water jet from of propulsion to maintain dynamic position, however these Waterjets are in a fixed horizontal mode and can not provide azimuth thrusting in a vertical position, see reference U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,517.
This Ship to Platform Transformer invention is composed of an upper platform and lower buoyant hull, where the lower hull swings from a horizontal position configuration to vertical buoyant leg configuration, the lower hull is attached to the upper platform by a hinge around which the lower hull transforms into the vertical buoyant leg. The Ship to Platform Transformer invention is designed to utilize a conventional horizontal ship hull configuration to transit the ocean at a fast speed. Once several of the Ship to Platform Transformers arrives at their final destination, the upper hulls are connected together to form a large integrated platform. Ballast in the lower hull is transferred to the stern of the ship allowing the lower hull to pivot around the hinge point. The upper hulls, now connected as one large platform, become supported by the combination of a multitude of all the vertical buoyant legs. Because the vertical buoyant legs have very small water-plane area at the surface they react very little to the waves, thus the upper hull platform is a stable platform for conventional aircraft and port logistics operations.